1244 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
August 23, 191!< 
Pastoral Parson and His Country Folks 
By Rev. George B. Gilbert 
That Old Rocking Chair. —It is cer¬ 
tainly astonishing what a fuss an old 
rocking chair will stir up! You will re¬ 
member we put one in that new kind of 
church we are starting where we plan 
to make people happy and cheerful in¬ 
stead of gloomy and miserable. The 
building we bought "had been a carpen¬ 
ter’s shop, and is not now and never has 
been a church. We have a rocking chair 
for an old lady who suffers from rheu¬ 
matism, and we are going to put in more 
for any who may come with small chil¬ 
dren and babies, but the reporters got 
hold of it and the fun began. 
Newspaper Honesty. —The Parson 
realizes that many things in the paper 
may not be exact in detail, and there is 
a tremendous temptation to color up 
stories to make them more exciting and 
attractive, but the general spirit of an 
article ought to be true, and the facts 
ought to be true as it is possible to make 
them. Because one rocking chair is put 
in why should an article be headed in 
great type “The Rocking-chair Church” 
and then go on to state that the pews 
had been ripped out of a church and con¬ 
That Abandoned Church. —What a 
good time we had the other night down in 
that abandoned church where we tore up 
the pews and made them so we could put 
them where we wanted them. There were 
just 35 present, and you would certainly 
wonder where they came from. On the 
way down, when most to the church, the 
Parson met two of the girls who always 
come to the socials. lie pulled up. 
“Aren’t you coming to the party tonight?” 
“Oh, yes. But we’ve got to go over town 
first on an errand.” “Goodness!” said 
the Tarson, “clear over there? It is six 
good miles from here, and you are a mile 
from home now. You’ll never get back 
in time in the world, and you’ll be ‘half 
dead if you do.” But just as the Parson 
was ready to begin the game of “Taps” 
that night he looked out on the big stone 
step and there were those two girls! 
“You got a ride, didn’t you?” he asked. 
“We got a ride over in a car,” said the 
elder sister, “hut we walked back.” 
“Walked!” piped in the younger sister 
who was with her. “we ran back.” 
Running to CnuRcn.—The Tarson 
can’t get over thinking about Santha 
The Tent and Camping Outfit 
signed to kindlings? Because it is 
planned to have a Sunday paper in the 
place to hand to any who may not have 
eeen one, is it necessary to state that the 
“Headlines of the Sunday paper are read 
to the congregaton just before the ser¬ 
mon?” Because it is hoped to have the 
boys of the village meet in the basement 
why should it be stated, that the pews 
being out of the way. “the boys play bas¬ 
ketball in the church, and a croquet set 
has been placed on the church lawn?” 
It also tells the public that the ladies 
ha|ve been invited to bring their darning 
to church with them. The whole spirit 
of the articles. Which were reprinted 
all over the county, was absolutely false, 
wholly unnecessary to make interesting 
reading, and did no one any good. How 
much that we see in the papers can we 
believe? 
The Bishop and the Tramp. —The 
Parson's bishop had a disturbing idea. 
He sent for the Parson to come and see 
Pandianni running back that seven miles, 
dragging her sister by the hand. Santha. 
whose time was divided between picking 
huckleberries and tending charcoal pit 
and pulling weeds, is now hurrying, pant¬ 
ing, running to get down to church in 
time. Santha is singing hymns now. 
Santha has learned to dance the Virginia 
reel. When Santha starts to go over and 
tend the charcoal pit she goes to a pile 
of books and magazines and takes an 
armful with .her over the hills among 
the rocks to where the long column of 
smoke comes up from among the hushes. 
Life is different since the Parson’s car 
nosed around Gellar’s Corners. 
Happy Home Church. —’Way down in 
the woods the other day the Parson came 
across what we would call a sugar-house 
in Vermont. It was little better than a 
wood-chopper’s shanty. There was a 
little plot for a garden about as big as a 
bedquilt, and then nothing but rocks and 
bushes. But nailed to a scrub sapling 
The Pastoral Parson's Camping Party 
him. He showed him the clippings. The 
interview that followed reminded the Par¬ 
son of a story about a Western bishop 
and a tramp. This Western bishop was 
on East after money, and had quite a 
reputation in that line. A most destitute¬ 
looking tramp was begging money at the 
hotel where the bishop was staying, and 
some of the naughty men directed the 
tramp over towards the bishop. They 
noticed a very long and earnest conver¬ 
sation between the two. Then the tramp 
returned. “How much did you get out 
of him?” was eagerly asked. “Get out 
of him?” shouted the tramp. “Why, I’ve 
pledged myself a dollar a year for five 
years towards a new church he is build¬ 
ing !” So when the Parson's bishop got 
through with him in regard to those rock¬ 
ing chairs in church he took him right 
out on his beautiful back porch and 
showed him several such chairs that he 
might be able to spare to add to the 
church collection! 
right in front of the door was a board on 
which was roughly printed- “Happy 
Home.” The Parson pulled up and had 
a chat with the old couple there. They 
seemed to have happiness and mighty 
little else. But who shall say that was 
not enough? “We expect to build on to 
this place some time.” he said as cheerily 
as you please. Here was this old couple, 
alone here in'the woods, planning for en¬ 
largements and improvements ! And con¬ 
tented as kittens. 
The Right Spirit. —It seemed to the 
Parson that after all it was the spirit 
that counted in a church. It mattered 
mighty little about the buildings or the 
symbols or the ritual or, for that matter, 
so very much about the music. A young 
woman from one of the Parson’s missions 
went to the city last Winter to work. 
She went to her own kind of church Sun¬ 
day after Sunday, and no one spoke to 
her. She simply couldn’t stand this, and 
tried another church. This was a little 
better, but not much. Finally she drifted 
into a Christian Science church, and how 
informal and sociable everything was 
there! Just like a family, and everyone 
so glad to see her. That was what really 
counted. So when she is away she goes 
to that church, and when she is at home 
she comes to the Parson’s church. 
Camping Out. —You see by the picture 
the Parson has been camping out. These 
are some of the boys who went with him. 
At night we took the “fly” you see by the 
side of the tent and stretched it right over 
the top of the auto, thus making more 
room for sleepers. One night it came on 
to pour about bedtime, and we all hustled 
into a nearby schoolhouse. and most of 
us slept, or rather lay. on the floor. How 
much it means to a boy to go camping! 
There is no need of going off somewhere, 
just nearja big tree and a brook or spring. 
Hon’t go near a big. deep pond, there is 
too much worry about drowning. 
Not Go? —It is just the time to 
go camping now—the latter part of Au¬ 
gust. The hoys have worked hard in hav¬ 
ing and getting in the oats, and the big 
weeds have been pulled out of the corn, 
and there is a breathing spell before time 
to dig potatoes and cut. up the corn. Al¬ 
ways put a tent right in the sun. It 
wants to be dry. and with the bed clothing 
well sunned out every day that the sun 
shines. It will be cool enough in the 
tent at night—no worry about that, and 
you do n~t stay in a tent in the daytime. 
But fix the place where you cook in the 
shade if possible. Put tlie stones n un¬ 
der a big tree. This cooking place you 
see is in the sun. which made it terribly 
hot at noontime, but it got shade in the 
afternoon, and the sun does not bother 
early in the morning. .Tust pile the stones' 
up as you s“e and put some old tire irons 
across the top. We use the bracer irons 
that come off old telephone crosspieces 
or old tires broken in strips about two 
feet long. 
3 tie Table. —When you fix the fire¬ 
place have a seat for the cook at one 
end of it. and then place the table so that 
the cook can lift things from the fire and 
place them right on the table without 
getting up at all. He can also eat from} 
the table on the same seat where he! 
cooks. This is very important. It saves 
so many steps, and much food from burn¬ 
ing up. It also insures hot food on the, 
table. Drive in a stake, as you see in 
the picture, and drive a lot of nails in 
it. to hang the cooking things on. The 
table in the picture is an old box cover 
sat on four stakes driven in the ground. 
Nothing is more handy going camping 
than four or five empty boxes for seats 
around the table and to put things in 
both going and coming. The grocer will 
give these to the boys. 
The Food. —Quantity figures a good 
deal more than delicacy here, .salt pork 
is all the meat you want, and it will keep 
—till you eat it. Put two or three slices 
in the skillet (in Vermont it is a 
“spider”) and when the fat is out of it 11 
slice in raw apples, skin and all, in thin | 
slices. Put in a good lot. for they will 
shrink tremendously. Put on the cover— 
they will cook better—and sprinkle on a 
little sugar. Slice the bread and lean the 
slices up against the spider as it simmers, 
to toast them a bit. Then put two slices 
of toast on each plate and put some of 
this fried apple on top and put a cup of 
milk or cocoa on beside it on the table.] 
and see whether the boys eat it or not! 
If they don’t, take them home and put 
them to pulling ragweed out of the pota-j 
toes—they deserve it. 
Dinner. —For dinner take some baked 
beans—have plenty along with you—and 
warm them up in the spider with water 
enough to make them quite thin. Put the 
bread on the plate and put a spoonful of 
this bban concoction on top of it. Salt 
the beans well if they need it. Give the 
boys spring water with this. Gocoa more 
than once a day is too rich for them. 
Warm up some potato in milk for sup¬ 
per, don't fry it. and have roast corn. 
Place the corn ears on two of these cross 
irons of the fireplace, when the fire is 
mostly of coals and the stones are hot, 
and roll them over two or three times 
till they are brown. Then sprinkle on 
plenty of salt, and see if they are good. 
Don’t bother with butter in a camp 
When you go off with the boys berrying 
during the day take some bread and some 
tomatoes and some salt and make tomato 
sandwiches for lunch—that will be all you 
will need. If we made less work over 
camping and eating out we would do it 
oftener. 
I.tATE to Bed. —Above all. when you 
take the boys out for over night remem¬ 
ber there will be no sleep in them till 
about midnight, no matter how comfort¬ 
ably they are tucked in. Everything is 
so new and strange and they have been 
so excited over going that they simply 
cannot sleep. If you force them to bed 
they will get the giggles, and you will 
order them to be quiet and go to sleep, 
neither of which they will do. and so you 
will resolve to beat it for home the first 
thing in the morning. If you don’t lose 
your temper outright it will be a wonder. 
Go off somewhere with them or tell them 
stories about the campfire, or have a 
jtarty in a nearby schoolhouse, or do some¬ 
thing till'midnight. The next night there 
will not be a bit of trouble ; if they hit 
the bare floor they will rest like logs till 
morning. 
Blankets.- —It will be hot when you 
are packing up to go, and the sight of a 
blanket melts you. But never mind. 
About two o’clock tomorrow morning you 
will sing a different song. You will swearj 
it’s freezing the tomatoes at home. A good, 
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